Tenn. High Court Hears Law Firm's Plea for Judge's Permanent Recusal
A Greeneville, Tenn., law firm’s effort to get a local judge to recuse himself permanently from its cases seemingly received a favorable reception today in a Tennessee Supreme Court hearing.
The firm, Rogers Laughlin Nunnally Hood & Crum, is appealing to the high court Circuit Judge John Wilson’s refusal to recuse himself last year from hearing a Hawkins County personal injury case over a car’s collision with a horse, in which they represented the plaintiff driver, recounts the Greeneville Sun.
Because of an alleged 25-year history of animosity between the judge and their law firm, the firm is asking not only that the supreme court find that Wilson should have recused himself from the personal injury case but that the judge be required to recuse himself from all cases in which the law firm is involved, the newspaper explains. The firm is also asking that the court establish a statewide procedure to be followed when a judge’s recusal is sought.
Wilson did not attend the hearing, and apparently does not have a lawyer formally representing him in the matter. However, his position was argued at today’s hearing before five supreme court justices by attorney Thomas Kilday. His law firm, Milligan & Coleman, represents the defendants in the personal injury case in which the recusal is sought.
Rogers Laughlin and Milligan & Coleman are the two largest law firms in the Greene County community.
After consulting with unspecified Third Judicial Circuit court officials, Wilson declined in September 2007 to recuse himself in the personal injury case because he felt he could try it fairly and impartially, according to a court transcript. He refused to allow counsel representing the Rogers firm to “develop the record” on the recusal issue, at that time.
Counsel for the Rogers firm, then and now, contend that the judge applied the wrong standard concerning the requested recusal. Wilson should have determined whether his impartiality “might reasonably be questioned,” as attorney Ralph Harwell of Knoxville said at the September 2007 hearing.
Among various reported questions from the justices during a one-hour hearing today which seemingly indicated their receptiveness to the Rogers firm’s argument, Justice William Koch Jr. questioned Judge Wilson’s reasoning on the recusal question and asked Kilday, at one point, “Can’t we at least agree he was using the wrong standard?”
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Tenn. High Court to Hear About Fiery 25-Year Law Firm-Judge Spat”
